Hold-open latch

ABSTRACT

A latch having a keeper housing provided with a resilient pad to cushion the engagement of the latch hook, and hold it in engagement with the keeper.

United States Patent Herlein 1 Feb. 13, 1973 HOLD-OPEN LATCH References Cited [76] Inventor: Robert J. Herlein, Box 1172, Route UNITED STATES PATENTS 1, Custer, Mich. 49045 3,388,939 6/1968 Colell ..292/l98 [22] Filed: March 4, 1971 2,014,193 11/1957 Roethel ..70/ 142 [21] Appl' 120308 Primary ExaminerRobert L. Wolfe Attorney-Glenn B. Morse [52] US. Cl ..292/103, 292/34l.12, 292/DlG. 19 [51] Int. Cl. ..E05c 19/10 57 ABSTRACT [58] Field of Search ..292/103, 114, 262, 341.12,

292/341.13, DIG. l9, DIG. 41; 16/86 A A latch having a keeper housing provided with a resilient pad to cushion the engagement of the latch hook, and hold it in engagement with the keeper.

5 Claims, 10 Drawing Figures PATENT-511F551 3191a 'SHEET 10F 3 Fig. 2

INVENTOR Robert J. Herlein Fig. 3

. Fig.

ATTORNEY m a W H .l N N M W T N T 2 A 6 Robert J. Herlein BY h 5. gm,

u. i E I :PATENTEBFEB I 31973 SHEET 2 OF 3 PATENTEDFEBI 3197s l llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll f l ll lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll f INVENTOR Robert J. Herlein ATTORNEY HOLD-OPEN LATCH BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A rather peculiar latch problem has developed as a result of the conditions encountered in holding open the rear doors of trucks. Placement of a truck or trailer in loading position at a dock platform normally requires the opening of the doors prior to the final positioning at the clock. The doors must be held open, or the action of the wind, gravity, or the lurching motion of the vehicle will overcome the friction of the door hinges, and swing the doors back into a position where the movement of the vehicle toward the dock will either close the doors or damage them.

Latch arrangements of various types have been used with some limited success to hold the doors open against theside of the trailer body. The problems encountered with these devices have been twofold: (a) they have usually been inadequate to withstand the slatting action of the wind without releasing the door, or (b) have been excessively vulnerable to ice, or damage from the slamming engagement of the door. Types of latch devices that might conceivably be used in this type of environment have been noted in the following U.S. Pats. No.

Hotchkiss 1,239,393 1917 Williams 2,097,65 3 I937 Amann 2,675,259 1954 Newman 3,555,207 1967 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention utilizes an extremely simple and low-cost structure for cushioning the slamming action of the door as it is swung into engagement with the keeper, and for resiliently maintaining this engagement through pressure and friction forces. The structure providing these features is notably resistant to damage and ice accumulation. In the preferred form of the invention, a hook is pivotally connected at one end to the vehicle door, and a low-profile keeper housing is attached to the side of the vehicle in the position such that the door can be swung open to a position adjacent the side of the vehicle, with this movement placing the hook of the latch in position for engagement with the keeper. The keeper structure includes a housing containing a pad of preferably foamed resilient material opposite an opening in the housing which receives the hook end of the latch tongue. The opening swing of the door is thus halted by this cushioning material as the hook is admitted into the housing. The hook can either be displaced manually on its pivot mounting on the door for engagement with the keeper, or a deflector can be incorporated in the housing to induce this transverse motion. Once engaged with the keeper, the resilient pressure of the pad maintains the engagement against the action of normal wind forces. Even in the presence of gusts of sufficient intensity to deflect the padding, the frictional bearing against the end of the tongue hook will normally suffice to discourage sufficient lateral movement to permit the hook to escape from the keeper.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the rear portion of a conventional truck trailer, showing one of the doors swung to full open position adjacent the side of the vehicle.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the condition shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a view on an enlarged scale showing the pivotal mounting of the latch hook on the outside of the vehicle door.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view on a scale comparable to that of FIG. 3, showing the latch housing as normally secured to the outside of the vehicle.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view on a horizontal plane through the engaged latch mechanism.

FIG. 6 is a section on the plane 6-6 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a view of a modified form of the invention with respect to the keeper structure.

FIG. 8 is a view of a modified form of the invention, incorporating a movable contact plate interposed between the resilient pad and the keeper.

FIG. 9 illustrates the engaged position of the FIG. 8 modification.

FIG. 10 is an exploded view showing the components of the form of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The truck trailer shown in FIG. I has a body enclosure 20 provided with the rear doors 21 and 22. The door 21 is hinged to the side 23 at 24 and 25, and the door 22 at 26 and 27. Prior to backing the trailer into loading or unloading position at a dock platform, the door 21 must be swung open against the side 23, as shown in FIG. 1, and the door 22 must be similarly placed adjacent the side 28. Keeper units 29 and 30 are mounted on the sides 23 and 28, respectively, to receive the latch tongues 31 and 32 mounted on the outsides of the doors 21 and 22, respectively, to hold them open during the maneuvering of the vehicle. The structure of these latches is best shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. The keeper unit has a housing 33 provided with an opening 34 for receiving the hooked end 35 (refer to FIG. 10) of the latch tongue 36. The bar 37 forms a reinforced point of engagement for receiving the hooked end 35, and this bar is normally spot-welded to the housing 33. The opening 34 is of sufficient size to permit the insertion of the hooked end 35, with enough room for movement of the tongue 36 in a direction transverse to a normal to the plane of the opening 34 for engagement and disengagement with the bar 37.

In the simplest form of the device (illustrated. in FIGS. 5 and 6,) the housing 33 is provided with a mounting flange 38 normally secured to the side 23 of the vehicle body by the assemblies of bolts and nuts shown at 39-42 in FIG. 4. These are preferably installed with the nuts on the outside of the vehicle, to provide'the minimum interference for the cargo space within. Prior to the placement of the housing 33 against the side of the vehicle, the pad 43 of resilient foamed material is merely placed within the housing 33. This pad can either be a rectangular block, or may be contoured to the cross-sectional configuration shown in FIG. 6. In either case, the dimensions of the block are such as to provide a resilient force against the bar 37 for anything interposed between the pad 43 and the bar. The engagement of the tongue 36 will normally be accompanied by some degree of swinging velocity of the door 21, and this movement will be cushioned by the engagement of the hooked end 35 against the pad 43. Once the tongue 36 has penetrated sufficiently to permit a downward movement of the hooked end 35 into engagement with the bar 37, this motion can be manually imparted to the tongue 36. The fully engaged position shown in FIG. 6 will be maintained by the combination of the resilient force holding the hooked end 35 against the bar 37, together with the friction of the foamed material against the outer surface of the hooked end 35. The foamed material is preferably of a rubber-like substance having a relatively high coefficient of friction.

The modification shown in FIG. 7 is similar to that described previously, with the exception that the bar 37 is replaced by the portion indicated at 44 which is rolled to the illustrated configuration from the material lanced out of the housing 45 to produce the opening 46. The latch tongue 47 is similar to the tongue 36 of the modification shown in FIGS. and 6. The housing 45 is otherwise similar to the housing 33. Both of these are preferably provided with drainage openings as shown at 47 and 48 to permit the escape of water, and thus inhibit the formation of ice. The modification shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 includes a housing 49 and a keeper bar 50 similar to the housing 33 and the bar 37. The body of the vehicle is represented by the corrugated sheet material 51, to which the housing 49 is secured by the bolts shown at 52 and 53. A pad 54 of foamed material is placed within the housing 49, and is retained within the housing by the back plate 55. This structure is preferable where the mounting surface is irregular. The contact plate 56 is interposed between the pad 54 and the bar 50, and this plate as upper and lower flanges in sliding engagement with the walls of the housing 49 to maintain the alignment of the plate over its limited range of sliding movement as the hooked end of the latched tongue engages and disengages. The central portion 59 of this plate is contoured as shown in FIGS. 8, 9, and to provide a tendency to deflect the hooked end of a latch tongue downward into engagement with the keeper bar 50 on insertion of the tongue into the opening 60 in the housing 49. In the engaged position shown in FIG. 9, the tongue 61 will be retained in engagement by the combined effect of the pressure of the pad 54 (acting through the contact plate 56), together with the friction effect directly against the hooked end of the tongue 61. The contour at 59 will also generate a component of the resilient pad pressure tending to maintain the engagement, in addition to the frictional forces involved. The form of the invention shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 is also preferably provided with a drainage opening, as shown at 62.

The mounting of the latch tongue can be of any con- 68 and 69 in FIG. 10. The material of the door 21 is received between the plates 66 and 67, with the installation of the fastenings providing an effective connection terminal for the latch tongue 36. The tongue is free to pivot (although preferably with sufficient resistance to maintain a horizontal position through friction) from the extended position shown in figure 6 to a depending position downward against the door (as shown in FIG. 1 on the door 22 during periods when it is not in use.

ICLAIM:

1. In combination with a door having a path of closing movement and a structure adjacent said door, a latch including a keeper and a tongue having a hook end engageable with said keeper, and the opposite end secured to a mounting bracket, one of said keeper and mounting bracket being mounted on said structure and the other thereof on said door in opposite relationship with respect to said path of movement, said hook end being moveable with respect to said keeper for engagement and disengagement therewith, wherein the improvement comprises:

a housing having an opening adapted to receive said hook end, said keeper being normally fixed with respect to said housing and engageable with said hook end within said housing; and

a resilient pad disposed within said housing and opposite said opening, said pad being adapted to compress in the direction of said path of movement on entrance of said hook end into said opening and engagement with said keeper, and bias said hook end outward against said keeper to maintain the engagement thereof.

2. A latch as defined in claim 1, wherein said keeper is integral with said housing.

3. A latch as defined in claim 1, wherein said pad is a foamed material having a relatively high coefficient of friction.

4. A latch as defined in claim 1, additionally including a contact plate moveable in said housing and supported by said pad.

5. A latch as defined in claim 4, wherein said plate has a surface contoured to deflect said hook end transversely with respect to a normal to the plane of said opening to engage said keeper. 

1. In combination with a door having a path of closing movement and a structure adjacent said door, a latch including a keeper and a tongue having a hook end engageable with said keeper, and the opposite end secured to a mounting bracket, one of said keeper and mounting bracket being mounted on said structure and the other thereof on said door in opposite relationship with respect to said path of movement, said hook end being moveable with respect to said keeper for engagement and disengagement therewith, wherein the improvement comprises: a housing having an opening adapted to receive said hook end, said keeper being normally fixed with respect to said housing and engageable with said hook end within said housing; and a resilient pad disposed within said housing and opposite said opening, said pad being adapted to compress in the direction of said path of movement on entrance of said hook end into said opening and engagement with said keeper, and bias said hook end outward against said keeper to maintain the engagement thereof.
 1. In combination with a door having a path of closing movement and a structure adjacent said door, a latch including a keeper and a tongue having a hook end engageable with said keeper, and the opposite end secured to a mounting bracket, one of said keeper and mounting bracket being mounted on said structure and the other thereof on said door in opposite relationship with respect to said path of movement, said hook end being moveable with respect to said keeper for engagement and disengagement therewith, wherein the improvement comprises: a housing having an opening adapted to receive said hook end, said keeper being normally fixed with respect to said housing and engageable with said hook end within said housing; and a resilient pad disposed within said housing and opposite said opening, said pad being adapted to compress in the direction of said path of movement on entrance of said hook end into said opening and engagement with said keeper, and bias said hook end outward against said keeper to maintain the engagement thereof.
 2. A latch as defined in claim 1, wherein said keeper is integral with said housing.
 3. A latch as defined in claim 1, wherein said pad is a foamed material having a relatively higH coefficient of friction.
 4. A latch as defined in claim 1, additionally including a contact plate moveable in said housing and supported by said pad. 